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Renovation, renovation….

A few weeks ago, hubby and I decided to buy a 30 year old apartment and give it a thorough renovation.

A recent visit to my hubby’s uncle’s newly renovated home, as well as a friend’s blog post on how she changed their kitchen to their advantage, opened our eyes to something we hadn’t thought of previously: a renovation is not just about better floors or a different wall color! you can also totally change the layout of an apartment to suit your demands! what a discovery!! An additional bathroom here, close an unwanted door there, open another one elsewhere, change the dimensions of your kitchen, create 2 rooms out of 1. The options are endless! Suddenly, the apartment seemed much more appealing, and we became excited at the idea of having a new project on our hands.

After the epiphany, we decided to have a go at changing the layout of the house, without an architect’s help. We also hired our close friend to be the contractor. Some good ideas (and not so good ones) were passed around until we finally settled on a design that would give the apartment a more spacious feel.

So for the past week, genius ideas (and not so genius ones) were passed around, until we finally settled on a design that will allow us to have an additional bathroom, and a more spacious feel to the house as a whole.

We thought we’d have a look at kitchen designs and start working on ordering that part of the house, since it will take the longest to deliver. Then we thought we should find the best way connect the bathroom to our bedroom ( which seemed impossible since there was a column right where the door should’ve been positioned), and build another guest toilet elsewhere.

Two weeks later, I can definitely say we have learned one thing: Listen to everyone and anyone who has an opinion/advice and wants to share it! This goes against what people usually say. But one thing is for sure: when you keep an open mind and take into consideration other points of view, you will definitely end up with a better plan, albeit being utterly confused from all the incoming information. But the best part, is when you are finally able to find the design that incorporates the information and fits your needs or potential needs in the future.

In the end we got to the following conclusion, but had no idea how to implement it, since some ideas were not compatible with each other:

1- don’t place the fridge in a way that it would stand out

2- better buy a french door fridge

3- You may end up needing space for a live in maid ( no matter how far in time that may be)

4- add a bathroom to your bedroom

That’s when the contractor and the internet came in handy. Our contractor managed to find another access to the bathroom : let’s create a passage to the bathroom by taking a small corner from the kitchen. From there, the light bulb above our heads suddenly lit up! The ” built in” fridge concept was finally possible, which in turn will allow us to have a future live-in maid’s room (a seating area for now). I’m sure you’re confused by now, and I can safely say so are we! but stay tuned! I will post the final look once it’s done 🙂